textproduct: Quad Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Dangerous travel conditions will continue this morning due to blizzard conditions. Expect significant impacts to the morning commute due to slick road conditions and greatly reduced visibility.

- Colder temperatures start off the work week today/tonight but will gradually warm up, especially for Wednesday through the end of the week.

- A clipper system passes through the area late Tuesday into early Wednesday, bringing another round of accumulating snow. Chances of two inches or more of snow are 50 to 70%.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/

Issued at 331 AM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Dangerous travel conditions will continue this morning as we remain under a very potent winter storm system. A powerful low pressure system, currently over southwestern Lower Michigan and lifting northeastward, will continue to strengthen early this morning. We find ourselves under the proverbial rock and a hard place with the 986 mb low to the east and a stout 1034 mb high over the central Plains, resulting in a very tight surface pressure gradient in place here. Strong northwest winds with measured gusts of 40 to 50+ mph and falling snow under a deformation zone/TROWAL on the backside of the low has resulted in accumulating snow and significantly reduced visibility/blizzard conditions over most of the area. Additionally, very poor road conditions were reported by local DOT, with roads completely covered with snow and several highways reported "travel not advised". Even a portion of I-80 from Coralville west to Des Moines is presently closed! If you are able to avoid travel this morning, do so and wait out the storm! However, if you must travel, use extreme caution as roads will be slick and visibility will be severely limited this morning. In terms of headlines, we've made some slight refinements to end them a little sooner. Blizzard conditions should gradually improve after sunrise this morning from west to east as winds gradually weaken today. By 1 PM this afternoon, we should be headline free. However, some lingering blowing snow is expected, even into the early afternoon hours, just not to the degree we're seeing early this morning.

A much calmer night is expected tonight as the aforementioned high pressure system builds across the Midwest. The attendant subsidence of the high and weakening pressure gradient will help skies become mostly clear with lighter winds. This should result in a very cold night tonight, with lows dipping to the single digits above zero. Wind chills of 5 to 15 below zero are also expected, so make sure to bundle up if planning to be outdoors.

LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 331 AM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

A period of mostly tranquil weather conditions are expected for the long-term period, especially for Wednesday through next weekend as the general consensus among the LREF ensemble cluster analysis indicates a large upper-level high pressure system to develop across the southwestern CONUS, with longwave ridging over the western half of the US. This will also result in gradually increasing temperatures, with highs Wednesday in the 40s to lower 50s, rising to the lower 60s over northwest Illinois to lower 70s over southeast Iowa/northeast Missouri/west-central Illinois by Saturday.

The only exception to the calmer weather will be Tuesday night/Wednesday morning as a clipper system sweeps through the area Tuesday evening into early Wednesday morning. Onset timing of the associated precipitation (mostly a snow system, with a small chance of a wintry mix across our southwest) remains uncertain as model soundings suggest a layer of dry sub-cloud air that will gradually moisten via top-down saturation. Accumulating snow is likely for the northern 3/4 of our region as the NBM exceedance probabilities of 2 inches or more are around 50 to 70%, so it looks like we're not done with the accumulating snow this week.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 640 AM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Rough flying conditions continue this morning across the area as the remnants of a potent winter storm persists. Widespread IFR/LIFR conditions were observed at TAF issuance due to blowing snow from observed 30 to 40 knot wind gusts. These winds are more than sufficient to generate significantly reduced visibilities. Combined with MVFR to LIFR ceilings, very difficult flying conditions were seen area-wide.

Conditions are expected to slowly improve this morning as winds gradually weaken today. There could still be some lingering BLSN, even after snowfall ceases, so MVFR conditions could still linger into the afternoon hours. Winds should weaken further tonight as an area of high pressure develops, leading to VFR sky conditions.

DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

IA...Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT this morning for IAZ040-051. Blizzard Warning until 10 AM CDT this morning for IAZ041-042- 052-053-063>065-067-076>078-087>089-098-099. Blizzard Warning until 1 PM CDT this afternoon for IAZ054-066- 068. IL...Blizzard Warning until 1 PM CDT this afternoon for ILZ001-002- 007-009-015>018-024>026. Wind Advisory until 10 AM CDT this morning for ILZ034-035. Winter Weather Advisory until 10 AM CDT this morning for ILZ034-035. MO...Winter Weather Advisory until 10 AM CDT this morning for MOZ009-010.